Metroid: A Hunter and A Child
by SomeknowmeasXeno
Summary: Samus Aran, famed bounty hunter has been given a mission like none she has had before: to protect spirited young boy Joey Apronika. Tasked with escorting the child back to his home planet by her old friend Armstrong Houston, Samus' mission turns from simple 'babysitting' to an intergalactic quest. Joey will learn about adulthood struggles and Samus will rediscover childhood charm.
1. Chapter 1

[Federation / Norion System]

[Planet Troi]

* * *

It was midnight, the stars were shining bright in the night sky: lighting up the void above. A cold wind blew through the streets of downtown Celes City, the flickering lights and signs on the sides of the metal buildings illuminating the streets below. A lone figure walked along the old sidewalk, a few hovercars passing by, their white longcoat drifting behind them in the chilly breeze. Their head was down, both hands in the pockets of their longcoat as they walked along. They took a sudden right turn, walking down a short flight of stairs and into a bar: its double doors opening swiftly for the individual as they approached.

* * *

The bar was dimly lit, a few lights here and there, and its air was thick with both the smell of alcohol and a strange steely odor. The loner in the white longcoat passed by a few tables, and the humans sat at them, heading straight for the bar side. They took a seat on a metal, circular stool with a worn red cushion. The bar keep finished wiping a shot glass before turning to face the new customer.

"What'll it be?" His voice was gruff, his face chiselled. The bar keep put the shot glass away, under the bar side.

"You sell sundaes?" The woman asked, resting her arms on the bar. Her blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail with locks on both sides of her face and the rest of her hair parted to over her left eye.

"Sundaes?" The bar keep was a little puzzled. "Heh, we don't serve kids' stuff here." He followed up.

"That's a shame..." The woman sighed, her blue eyes drifting to her right, to a table with a couple of human patrons. She looked back to the bar keep. "Well, maybe you can give me some information?"

"Information?" The bar keep raised a brow.

"There's been talk about a new bar around these parts... a bar where you're just as likely to pay with your life as you are your cash." The room went silent, save for the electronic jukebox. "Know anything about that?" The woman inquired. "Oh, and I wouldn't mind something strong, it'll help get my mind off of the smell in here. Smells like blood..." The blonde woman added as a young man stood up from the table behind her. The bar keep pulled out another shot glass. The woman looked over her right shoulder, to the man standing up.

"You might scare off my customers, with stories like that, you know?" The bar keep muttered, filling the shot glass up.

"Royal straight flush, is it?" The woman asked the man, noticing the cards on the table. "Hand like that could kill a guy."

"How about I buy you a round?" The man smirked. Bang! The man fell backwards, a bright yellow mark on his forehead with steam rising from it. The woman held an advanced silver handgun, with purple neon lights running along the sides, in her left hand, having pulled it out from the black holster on her left thigh, over her right shoulder: aimed straight in the direction of the man. The man suddenly reared forwards, recovering from the shot, and then disappeared in a flash of light. A holographic disguise, he was really a Space Pirate: who let out an enraged roar whilst charging at the woman. The rest of the customers in the bar, seven in total, jumped up from their seats and also dropped their disguises: revealing all of them as Space Pirates. The bar keep ducked behind the bar as the woman jumped up from her seat, kicking the stool aside whilst pulling out a second silver handgun with purple neon lights from the black holster on her right thigh. Two Space Pirates charged her from both sides, but with just a few rapid shots from both guns they were sent flying back: dead. The woman effortlessly dodged a right hook from the Space Pirate in front of her: reappearing on his right side.

"Not bad, mr royal flush." The woman mocked, unloading a charged shot from the handgun in her left hand into the side of his head: death was instant. Another Space Pirate attempted to jump her from behind but the woman dodged in the blink of an eye: moving like a blur and reappearing behind the Space Pirate. A few rapid shots to the back from both guns at the same time and the Space Pirate was sent flying across the room, dead. A 5th Space Pirate took a few shots at the woman from across the room, but she dodged each one before pulling him to her with a yellow beam of energy from the gun in her right hand, as it briefly changed into a hilt form, and then she dashed behind him and sent the alien flying into a pool table with a roundhouse kick that also snapped his spine. The 6th Space Pirate swiped at the woman with the energy blade extending from his left gauntlet, but again she effortlessly dodged out of the way: appearing directly in front of the flipped pool table as the billiard balls flew past her. With one shot from her left gun, she sent the white ball ricocheting into the rest: which then flew at the 6th and 7th Space Pirates and smacked straight into the pair of them, knocking them back whilst the woman prepared charge shots for both of her guns. Bang! Bang! Both Space Pirates were sent flying into the table they had been sat at in their human disguises. The woman twirled both of her handguns around before slipping them back into their holsters. She walked past the bar, took the filled shot glass and took the entire shot before slamming the glass back down on the bar side and continuing on her way to the exit. The bar keep slowly rose back up from behind the bar and watched the woman walk to the exit: back to him. "Next time you set up shop, put ice cream sundaes on the menu." The woman spoke up. The bar keep dropped his holographic disguise and leapt over the bar side: charging at the woman. She turned back around and quickly pulled out the handgun holstered on her left thigh with her right hand, taking aim and charging a shot.

"Rrrraaarrrgh!" The Space Pirate raged towards her.

"Jackpot." The woman smirked. Bang!

* * *

[Samus' place]

* * *

It was the morning afterwards. Samus was sat on her old orange couch in the main room of the first floor of her own 'business shop' in downtown Celes City. She was in her Zero Suit, laying back and reading from a holopad: her white longcoat on a coat hanger behind her desk at the back of the room. She had her large, 50 inch, curved tv on in the background. It was only the morning news.

"Are you listening to me, Samus?" Armstrong Houston asked. He was a middle-aged caucasian man with short red hair and a small beard. He was dressed in casual wear, with black combat boots; dark blue jeans, a yellow shirt and a black jacket.

"Told you, I'm studying." Samus muttered in response.

"You're reading comic books." Armstrong retorted. Samus frowned. She turned the holopad off and put it on the coffee table to her left before resting her head in her arms and crossing her right leg over her left.

"Look, I may be taking odd jobs here and there but I have no desire to babysit." Samus sighed. The young boy by Armstrong's side frowned. He had spiky black hair with a single bang over his forehead and blue eyes. He was dressed in a dark green jumpsuit with the arms torn off and a white shirt on underneath. He was also wearing white sneakers and black fingerless gloves.

"I'm not a little kid." He interjected.

"Whatever you say, short round." Samus responded, staring at the ceiling. "Maybe in a few years you can say that and I'll take you seriously."

"Samus this is Joey Apronika." Armstrong spoke up. "He's from the frontier planet Liberty. His father Rand Apronika died a year ago in combat with the Space Pirates. His mother Dr. Diana Apronika is a skilled medical scientist for the Galactic Federation. She, and the Special Forces Ship Otowa which she was stationed on, went missing last week in the Beta System. I need you to take Joey back to Liberty, back to his grandfather. He'll look after him until Diana is found."

"And why can't you take him? Or put him on a public transport ship?" Samus asked. Joey started wandering around the room, walking behind Samus' desk and taking a look at the framed photograph placed on it.

"Because I believe Joey may be in danger. His mother was researching highly efficient new medical serums which the Space Pirates may be after. If they are behind this then they may use Joey as leverage to get his mother's research. There's nobody better than you for this job, Samus... and the pay will be substantial." Armstrong answered. Samus looked over to Armstrong.

"You should have opened with that." Samus sat up on the couch.

"You can take my car to the station, but I don't want to find a single scratch on it when I get it back, okay?" Armstrong offered. Samus sighed.

"Alright, but it had better be really good pay. And don't make a habit of dropping kids off on me." She stood up from the couch and grabbed her white longcoat, putting on over herself afterwards. Armstrong threw her his car keys and Samus caught them with her left hand. "Come on, kid." Samus walked to the front door. Joey walked around the desk, past Armstrong and after Samus. Samus opened up one of the double doors and motioned for Joey to go first.

"Oh, and Samus, hope the 'show' goes well." Armstrong sat down on the couch. Samus nodded.

"Lock up and clean up, fridge is full." Samus muttered, walking out and closing the door behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

A crimson hovercar sped along the floating highway running through Celes City, the streets far below and skyscrapers on both sides of the tube shaped highway: the upper half made of reinforced glass with the bottom half made of metal. A short wall separated both roads on the highway. The red hovercar had its roof down at the time, Samus was in the driver's seat with Joey, now with a black cap on his head, sat to her right in the front passenger seat. Samus rested her left arm on the car door, driving only with her right arm in a casual manner. No other cars were on their side of the road at the time, though a few passed by on the opposite from time to time.

"Mr Houston mentioned something about a show, is the bird guy in that photo on your desk going to be there?" Joey broke the silence. Samus raised a brow for a second but didn't look at Joey.

"Photo...? You're a nosey kid, aren't you?" Samus muttered.

"I was just looking around..." Joey defended. A hover-truck passed by the hovercar, going a little faster than

"Humph. No, he isn't going to be there..." Samus replied.

"Well, maybe I could come see your show? Doesn't seem like anybody else will." Joey inquired. Samus let out a brief chuckle.

"My show isn't for little kids." She replied. Joey folded his arms.

"I'm not a little kid, I'm 12 years..." Joey was cut off when Samus suddenly pulled his cap down over his face. "Hey!" Samus pulled out the handgun from her left thigh holster and took aim at the Space Pirate hanging on the left-hand side of the trailer of the truck driving in front of them. Bang! Samus quickly holstered her gun and put her left arm back on the car door: acting casual as the Space Pirate's body rolled past them and Joey pulled his cap back up. "What the hell was that?!" Joey looked over his shoulder to see the dead Space Pirate growing smaller as they continued to drive away. "Is that a..."

"Eyes front." Samus ordered. "Adults only."

"That's one of them Space Pirates ain't it?" Joey turned back to Samus.

"Not your concern." Samus replied.

"But, Mr Houston was right... they must be after me... but you killed it like it was nothing." Joey muttered.

"It is nothing." Samus interjected. She looked in the rear-view mirror and saw two more trucks approaching. Each one had a handful of Space Pirates on the top of their trailers.

"That was awesome." Joey smiled. Samus frowned.

"What are they teaching kids these days...?" Samus mumbled to herself.

"But one shot, you took it in one shot. That's awesome." Joey continued.

"It's called good aim and firepower." Samus responded. "Nothing special."

"Oh now you're just bragging." Joey smirked.

"I'm not one for boasting... is your seat belt firmly in place?" Samus asked. Joey was confused by the question.

"Uh... yeah... why?" Joey answered.

"Good. Autodrive engage." Samus took off her seat belt.

"Autodrive engaged." The dashboard AI accepted Samus' request.

"What are you doing...?" Joey asked. Samus stood up, turning around and dropping her white longcoat onto the driver's seat before stepping onto the back of the car. Joey turned and saw the two trucks transporting Space Pirates were closing in fast. "Oh..."

"I'm making sure Armstrong's car doesn't get a scratch on it..." Samus answered. Her jet boots powered up. "Look after my coat." She added before leaping into the air, flipping around and then landing on the closest hover-truck's trailer.

"Rrraarck!" One of the Space Pirate's roared at Samus as she stood up and pulled out her duel handguns.

"Rush hour traffic..." Samus muttered. She twirled her guns around. The other truck pulled up alongside the one Samus was on, keeping up perfectly. "Should'a took the last right." Two Space Pirates rushed at Samus at once, the first going in with a claw swipe which Samus ducked backwards to avoid whilst the second jumped over her and tried to shoot her in the back. Samus pulled off a backwards flip-kick, smacking the Space Pirate in front of her in the jaw before shooting the one behind her rapidly with both handguns mid-flip. As the first one was sent flying backwards, the other Space Pirates dodging out of the way as their comrade flew past them, Samus activated her jet boots' thrusters in the face of the Space Pirate she had shot mid-flip before flying at the rest with great speed before going into a forward roll and knocking the next Space Pirate in line of its feet with a sweep kick: which she followed up with a mid-air spin kick that sent the Space Pirate crashing into one of his fellow pirates whilst Samus shot a 3rd pirate repeatedly. One of the Space Pirates on the opposite truck trailer leapt over and tried to swipe at Samus' head as she shot his comrade so fast he was being knocked backwards with increasing speed. Samus ducked under the attack and quickly turned to counter the pirate, striking him with a roundhouse kick before knocking him into the air with a backwards flip-kick: pulling him back down with the energy whip spawned from her right handgun after she switched its mode, holding another pirate at bay with a barrage of shots from her left handgun. Samus slammed the 1st Space Pirate onto the other trailer a few times in quick succession, prompting the Space Pirates on that trailer to dodge out of the way, before swinging him around herself once and sending the pirate flying into the one she had just been shooting: sending both flying off of the trailer and hitting the highway with a bone-breaking impact. Samus quickly turned on the closest pirate and struck him multiple strikes of her energy whip before blasting him away with a charge shot to the face. Samus turned her right handgun back to its standard pistol mode and twirled both handguns around once before pointing them at the last three Space Pirates left to face her. The trio made quick glances to one another as Samus kept both guns trained on them. "I've not even tried yet..." Samus muttered. The Space Pirates looked back to the bounty hunter. "Tell me, how's your health plan?"

"Death before dishonor!" They cried out.

"Apparently it's great!" Samus dashed forward, charging both of her handguns as her jet boots propelled her forwards. All three pirates fired wildly in Samus' direction, but she simply dodged each blast, quickly rushing from side to side out of the way of each shot so fast it looked as if she was teleporting: leaving behind multiple afterimages in her wake. It was over in a flash. All three pirates' bodies crashed down onto the truck's trailer top. Samus had delivered a headshot to the first with one of her charge shots before sweep kicking the second off of its feet and then kicking it towards the last Space Pirate, who narrowly dodged out of the way in time to not be hit by the flying body of his fellow Space Pirate: only for Samus to reappear in front of him and deliver jet boot thruster boosted kick to the face followed by a quick rapid-fire barrage of shots to the chest to end him. Samus twirled both of her guns around one last time as she walked to the front of the hover-truck's trailer. Joey was still safe in Armstrong's car and the car didn't have a mark on it. "Knew this job would be boring..." Samus remarked before turning back around 180 degrees. She then backflipped off of the trailer and time seemed to slow for her as the Space Pirate driving the truck came into view. Samus took her shot, striking the pirate with twin shots to the head. The truck swerved out of control as Samus holstered her handguns mid-flip, before both hover-trucks went out of control and she landed on the highway road, skidding and turning around again as the two trucks flipped overhead. Yet again her jet boots kicked into action and Samus blasted off after Armstrong's car as the trucks crashed down behind her and scraped to a halt not long afterwards. Samus easily caught up with the car thanks to her jet boots and was now casually keeping up with it: moving in an ice skating-esque fashion. Samus quickly jumped back into the driver's seat, deactivating her jet boots. Joey had moved her longcoat just prior so she wouldn't land on it. Samus took her longcoat back from Joey without saying a word as he passed it back to her.

"That was..." Joey was dumbstruck by what he had seen.

"A wake-up activity as far as I'm concerned, they were unprepared and predictable. I would have ended it in a few seconds, but I'd rather not have to pay for the damage that not holding back would cause." Samus interrupted. Samus put her longcoat back on before sitting back and putting on her seatbelt. "I don't get paid much as it is these days, I'd also like to not be in debt." She followed up. "Autopilot can handle the rest of the drive..." Samus rested her head in her left hand as she leaned her left arm on the car door.


End file.
